What Is Application Security Testing and How It Can Prevent Common Cyber Threats

What is Application Security Testing?

Application Security Testing (AST) is the process of identifying and addressing vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software applications that could be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access or perform malicious actions. AST aims to ensure that applications are secure and free from vulnerabilities that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the system or its data.

AST can be conducted manually or with the help of specialized tools and techniques. Some common types of AST include:

• Static code analysis: This involves reviewing the source code of an application to identify potential vulnerabilities.
• Dynamic analysis: This involves running the application in a test environment and simulating different types of attacks to identify vulnerabilities.
• Penetration testing: This involves simulating real-world attacks on an application to identify vulnerabilities and assess the application’s resilience to such attacks.
• Security testing: This involves testing the application’s security features and controls to ensure that they are functioning correctly and effectively.

AST is an important part of the software development process, as it helps identify and fix vulnerabilities before an application is deployed in a production environment. This can help prevent security breaches and protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of an application and its data.

Why is Application Security Testing Important and How It can Help Prevent Cyber Threats?

AST is important because it helps identify and address vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software applications that could be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access or perform malicious actions. By conducting AST, organizations can ensure that their applications are secure and free from vulnerabilities that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the system or its data.

AST can help prevent cyber threats in several ways:

• Identifying vulnerabilities: AST helps identify vulnerabilities in applications that could be exploited by attackers. By identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities before an application is deployed, organizations can prevent attackers from exploiting them to gain unauthorized access or perform malicious actions.
• Strengthening security controls: AST helps organizations assess the effectiveness of their security controls and identify any weaknesses that need to be addressed. By strengthening these controls, organizations can better protect their systems and data from cyber threats.
• Enhancing resilience: AST helps organizations understand how well their applications can withstand different types of attacks. By understanding the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of their applications, organizations can improve their resilience to attacks and reduce the likelihood of successful breaches.
• Meeting regulatory requirements: Many industries have regulatory requirements related to cybersecurity and data protection. By conducting AST, organizations can ensure that their applications meet these requirements and avoid regulatory fines and penalties.

Types of Application Security Testing

Vulnerability Scanning

Vulnerability scanning involves identifying vulnerabilities in software applications and systems. Vulnerability scanners use automated tools to scan applications and systems for known vulnerabilities, such as unpatched software, weak passwords, and misconfigured security settings.

Vulnerability scanners can identify a wide range of vulnerabilities, including:

• Unpatched software: Vulnerability scanners can identify software that has not been updated with the latest patches, which can leave the system vulnerable to known vulnerabilities.
• Weak passwords: Vulnerability scanners can identify weak passwords that are easy to guess or crack, which can leave the system vulnerable to brute force attacks.
• Misconfigured security settings: Vulnerability scanners can identify security settings that are not properly configured, such as open ports or services that are not needed, which can leave the system vulnerable to attacks.

Vulnerability scanning is an important part of AST, as it helps organizations identify vulnerabilities in their applications and systems that could be exploited by attackers. By identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities, organizations can better protect their systems and data from cyber threats.

Penetration Testing

Penetration testing, also known as pen testing, involves simulating real-world attacks on an application or system to identify vulnerabilities and assess the application’s resilience to such attacks. Pen testing is typically conducted by security professionals or specialized pen testing firms.

Penetration testing can be conducted in a variety of ways, including:

• Black box testing: This involves testing an application or system without any prior knowledge of its internal structure or operation. Black box testing simulates the perspective of an external attacker who has no access to the application’s source code or internal architecture.
• White box testing: This involves testing an application or system with full knowledge of its internal structure and operation. White box testing is typically conducted by developers or system administrators and can identify vulnerabilities that are not visible from the outside.
• Gray box testing: This involves testing an application or system with partial knowledge of its internal structure and operation. Gray box testing combines elements of both black box and white box testing and is often used to test applications that are in development or are undergoing significant changes.

Penetration testing is an important part of AST because it helps organizations understand how well their applications can withstand real-world attacks and identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers. By identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities, organizations can improve the security of their applications and reduce the likelihood of successful attacks.

Ethical Hacking

Ethical hacking, also known as white hat hacking, is the practice of using hacking techniques and tools to identify vulnerabilities in computer systems and networks, with the goal of improving their security. Ethical hackers use the same methods and tools as malicious hackers, but with the permission and authorization of the system owner.

Ethical hacking can be used to test the security of a wide range of systems, including:

• Websites and web applications: Ethical hackers can test the security of websites and web applications by simulating different types of attacks, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and denial of service (DoS).
• Network infrastructure: Ethical hackers can test the security of a network by simulating attacks on routers, switches, firewalls, and other network devices.
• Mobile applications: Ethical hackers can test the security of mobile applications by simulating attacks on the application itself or on the device it is running on.

Ethical hacking is an important part of AST because it helps organizations identify vulnerabilities in their systems that could be exploited by malicious hackers. By identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities, organizations can improve the security of their systems and reduce the likelihood of successful attacks.

Ethical hacking vs. malicious hacking

Ethical hacking is distinct from malicious hacking, which involves unauthorized access to or exploitation of systems for malicious purposes. Ethical hacking is conducted with the permission and authorization of the system owner, while malicious hacking is illegal.

Ethical hacking vs. penetration testing

Ethical hacking involves using hacking techniques and tools to improve the security of a system, with the permission and authorization of the system owner. Penetration testing involves simulating real-world attacks to assess the system’s resilience to such attacks. 

Ethical hacking typically involves a more comprehensive evaluation and detailed recommendations for improving security, while penetration testing typically focuses on identifying vulnerabilities and assessing the system’s resilience to attacks.

Security Audit

A security audit involves evaluating the security of an application or system to ensure that it is in compliance with relevant security standards and regulations. Security audits are typically conducted by security professionals or specialized audit firms.

Security audits can involve a variety of activities, including:

• Reviewing security policies and procedures: Security audits may involve reviewing an organization’s security policies and procedures to ensure that they are comprehensive and effective.
• Testing security controls: Security audits may involve testing the effectiveness of an organization’s security controls, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and access controls.
• Evaluating the security of systems and applications: Security audits may involve evaluating the security of an organization’s systems and applications to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers.
• Assessing the organization’s risk management processes: Security audits may involve assessing the organization’s risk management processes to ensure that they are adequate and effective.

Security audits are an important part of AST because they help organizations ensure that their systems and applications are secure and compliant with relevant security standards and regulations. By identifying and addressing any vulnerabilities or weaknesses identified during a security audit, organizations can improve the security of their systems and reduce the likelihood of successful attacks.

Suggested Read: 4 Cybersecurity Threats Companies Should Prepare For In 2023

Application Security Testing Best Practices

Shift Security Testing Left

Shifting security testing left involves incorporating security testing into the software development process as early as possible. The goal of shifting security testing left is to identify and address vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software applications before they are deployed in a production environment.

Shift security testing left involves incorporating security testing into the following phases of the software development process:

• Requirements gathering: Security testing should be considered at the requirements gathering phase to ensure that security requirements are properly defined and incorporated into the design of the application.
• Design: Security testing should be incorporated into the design phase to ensure that the application is designed with security in mind.
• Development: Security testing should be conducted throughout the development phase to identify and address vulnerabilities as they are introduced into the code.
• Testing: Security testing should be conducted as part of the testing phase to ensure that the application is secure and free from vulnerabilities before it is deployed.

By shifting security testing left, organizations can identify and address vulnerabilities earlier in the development process, which can reduce the cost and effort required to fix them. This can also help prevent security breaches and protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the application and its data.

Test Internal Interfaces, Not Just APIs and UIs

It is important to test not only the application’s APIs and UIs, but also its internal interfaces. Internal interfaces are the interfaces between different components of an application, such as the interface between the database and the application server, or between different microservices in a distributed application.

Testing internal interfaces is important because vulnerabilities in these interfaces can allow attackers to gain unauthorized access to the application or its data. By testing internal interfaces, organizations can identify and address vulnerabilities that might not be visible through testing of the APIs and UIs alone.

Test Often

Testing often is a best practice in AST that involves conducting security testing on a regular basis to identify and address vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software applications. Testing often helps organizations ensure that their applications are secure and free from vulnerabilities that could compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the system or its data.

There are several reasons why testing often is important:

• To identify new vulnerabilities: As software applications are updated and modified over time, new vulnerabilities may be introduced. By testing often, organizations can identify and address these vulnerabilities before they are exploited by attackers.
• To assess the effectiveness of security controls: Testing often helps organizations assess the effectiveness of their security controls and identify any weaknesses that need to be addressed.
• To meet regulatory requirements: Many industries have regulatory requirements related to cybersecurity and data protection. Testing often can help organizations ensure that their applications meet these requirements and avoid regulatory fines and penalties.
• To reduce the risk of security breaches: Testing often can help organizations reduce the risk of security breaches by identifying and addressing vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by attackers.

Consider Third-Party Code Security

This best practice involves evaluating the security of third-party code and components that are used in the development of software applications. Third-party code refers to code or components that are developed by a vendor or external party and are used in the application, such as libraries, frameworks, and APIs.

Third-party code security is important because vulnerabilities in third-party code can compromise the security of an application. By evaluating the security of third-party code, organizations can identify and address vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access or perform malicious actions.

There are several approaches to evaluating the security of third-party code, including:

• Reviewing the vendor’s security policies and procedures: Organizations can review the vendor’s security policies and procedures to ensure that the code is developed in a secure manner.
• Testing the code for vulnerabilities: Organizations can test the code for vulnerabilities using static code analysis, dynamic analysis, or penetration testing techniques.
• Monitoring for vulnerabilities: Organizations can monitor for vulnerabilities in third-party code by subscribing to security bulletins and alerts and applying patches and updates as needed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Application Security Testing (AST) is the process of identifying and addressing vulnerabilities and weaknesses in software applications that could be exploited by attackers to gain unauthorized access or perform malicious actions. AST is an important part of the software development process, as it helps organizations ensure that their applications are secure and free from vulnerabilities.

AST can help prevent common cyber threats in several ways, including by identifying vulnerabilities and addressing them before they can be exploited, strengthening security controls, enhancing resilience to attacks, and meeting regulatory requirements. By implementing a comprehensive AST strategy, organizations can better protect their systems and data from cyber threats and reduce the risk of successful attacks.

Also Read: 7 Elements Of A Proactive Cybersecurity Strategy